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Spotify music streaming service comes to Linux

Spotify Linux preview version running on Ubuntu.
The Spotify developers have announced the release of a preview version of Spotify for Linux, bringing their popular online music streaming service to Linux users. According to a post on the Spotify blog by Andres Sehr, Spotify's global community manager, the release is the result of user feedback and the fact that many of the company's own developers use Linux and wanted to listen to music while they're coding.

Sehr says that preview application was created by the Spotify developers in their spare time and “during hack days and late nights”. Spotify for Linux includes a number of features from its Windows and Mac OS X counterparts, but does not yet include support for local files due to "issues regarding decoding of local music on the Linux platform".

While the preview release is still officially unsupported, the developers say that they will "try to make sure it keeps pace with its Mac and Windows siblings". As the developers haven't yet found a reliable way to display advertising, the Linux version of Spotify is only available to Spotify Premium subscribers.

As with all development releases, use in production environments and on mission critical systems is not advised. Users testing the release are encouraged to provide feedback and report any bugs that they encounter.

More details about Spotify for Linux are available on the Spotify previews page. Initially, the preview build of Spotify for Linux is only available to download as a Debian Squeeze/Ubuntu 10.04 package. Spotify subscriptions range from free for their Open service and 20 hours of streaming per month, to the Unlimited and Premium service, costing up to £9.99 per month.